The University of Rhode Island’s sixth music convocation of the semester drew a large crowd, including students, faculty and staff, and featured six student performers.
Each convocation is held weekly by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Music. Students, faculty and “special guests,” according to the URI website, offer live music as well as a discussion after their performances.
Atla DeChamplain, assistant teaching professor of amplified voice, music education advisor and one of the two coordinators for each convocation concert, said that taking part in the convocation is something she actively wants to do as opposed to it being a part of her job description.
“It was a part of my interview process to find what I enjoy doing, and most schools have a class like convocation,” DeChamplain said. “I really wanted to do that because it’s a good way to meet all of the students and to kind of get a feel for the department.”
The department in question certainly gives off a rather inviting feeling that is palpable even if you are not a music major or minor. Every student in attendance once again sat as close to the stage as they could, ready to cheer on their fellow classmates.
The convocation began with Aiden Rogler on guitar and Johnny Santani on the upright bass, playing the 1942 song “Nancy (With the Laughing Face)” written by Jimmy Van Heusen. A melodic and soulful piece played with precision and with a solo from both Rogler and Santini warranted a few bouts of small-scale applause during the performance before the thunderous applause shook the concert hall once they were finished.
Kaylee Arnold, a soprano vocalist, took the stage next with Nathaniel Baker on piano to belt out a booming, nearly operatic performance of “No One Else” from “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” a sung-through musical adaptation of a 70-page segment from Leo Tolstoy’s 1869 novel “War and Peace” written by composer and lyricist Dave Malloy. It was clear by the deafening response to Arnold’s performance that the students who attend these convocations do not do so only because they are required to; they are excited to watch their classmates perform and are excited to cheer for them.
Following that was Julian Fitzgerald, who was accompanied only by his guitar to play “Etude No.2” from the 1960 song “Estudios Sencillos” by Leo Brouwer, as well as Op.4 No.2 from the 1840 song “Nocturne,” composed by Johann Kaspar Mertz, an Austro-Hungarian guitarist. He plucked out the two heartfelt and hypnotic pieces and, even in spite of a minor mistake or two, which he admitted to at the end of the convocation, he was still met with resounding applause from his classmates, which was very well deserved.
Convocation may be small-scale in terms of the number of audience members or the location and time of the performance, but it is by no means something to put half an effort into.
“It’s not like a restaurant gig or even a concert that you do on your own,” DeChamplain said. “It’s more of a formal setting.”
Hawley Arbesman took the stage next with her oboe while David Gilliland, assistant teaching professor of collaborative piano, sat at the piano beside her and together they played “The Winter’s Passed,” a 1938 song by American contemporary composer Wayne Barlow. The piece was originally written with the oboe in mind as the main instrument, and although it was also written to be backed up by a string orchestra instead of a piano, it was very clear that Arbesman and Gilliland knew what they were doing in changing the instrument. The satisfying synchronization of the notes mixed with the distinct sounds of the two instruments playing the adventurous tune resulted in not just applause but cheers from the captivated audience.
DeChamplain described her role as a coordinator who mostly works with the students to get information for their concerts; for instance, when they sing in another language, they get translation notes from the students.
One person she would have gotten translation notes from is Joseph Coulombe, a baritone vocalist, who, with help from David Gillilan on piano, sang the 1918 song “An Die Musik” by Austrian composer Franz Schubert entirely in German. After that, he transitioned to English for his next song, “Say It Isn’t So,” with music and lyrics coming from Irving Berlin. This bilingual performance must have resonated with the audience seeing as how the applause for Coulombe continued a few seconds after he had walked off stage.
The final performance of the convocation was Madison Cahoon on violin and Gilliland once again on piano, playing the 1893 song “Sonatina in G Major Op. 100” by Czech composer Antonin Dvořák. It was clear from the first few seconds of this performance that Cahoon was extremely experienced with the violin, boasting an incredibly varied and hectic barrage of notes that all hit perfectly and were controlled no matter how chaotic they appeared. This final impressive performance was met with yet another round of surging applause from the fanatical audience.
The final 20 minutes of the convocation was, once again, dedicated to a question-and-answer segment that the audience asked the performers via Brightspace. Each performer took a seat on stage and answered one question.
When Arbesman was asked what she thought the meaning of her piece was, she connected it to a personal situation of hers.
“My great-grandma has dementia, so I think of the memories I have with her during all of that,” Arbesman said.
Coulombe also answered a question about how he stays relaxed on stage.
“What helps the most is feeling [Gillilan] and the weight of the piano behind me and using that to ground my entire body,” Coulombe said.
And with that, the sixth music convocation concert came to an end.
“I said to the students at the last class how excited I was to still be teaching convo, and I hope that I can continue teaching it as long as I’m there,” DeChamplain said. “Because not only do I get to meet all of these students, but they’re so supportive of each other. It’s a really wonderful environment that they have cultivated. I’m proud of them as musicians and their growth, of course, but more so, I’m proud of the collegiality they have for one another, the support. That’s, to me, that’s real artistry. To be in someone else’s corner.”
The convocation takes place every Friday at 1 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall and is open to anyone who would like to come.